The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has raised the alarm over an alleged fraud in a deal between the state government and a Sweden-based company which would enable the named foreign firm claim a certain sum of money from the school fee payable by every student in virtually all the tertiary institutions owned by the state government.
The alleged deal was surreptitiously packaged and sealed by Governor Seyi Makinde a few weeks ago during a visit to some European countries in company of some state government officials and some leaders of the People’s Democratic Party in the state. According to the contract, the firm (SchoolTry) would get N10,000 from the total school fee payable by each student in the name of providing unspecified Information and Communication Technology services to the tertiary institutions.
Oyo APC, in a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, regretted that Gov. Makinde defied calls for the rehabilitation of facilities in most public primary and secondary schools across the state only to construct and donate a multimillion naira building to the PDP in the South West Zone.
“The tragedy which befell the treasury of the 33 local government councils in the state since 2019 did not spare all the state-owned tertiary institutions as they have been at the mercy of consultants who took over the collection and management of their financial resources. It has been established that only Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso was made to escape the noose of the consultants who have done more harm than good to concerned tertiary institutions in the last five and a half years.
“Just as the Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education owned by the Oyo state government began to heave a sigh of relief on account of the disengagement of the Consultants milking the schools, the government came up with an idea of employing the services of a relatively unknown company based in Sweden to provide unclear ICT services while the same firm would be entitled to a sum of N10,000 from varying amount payable in school fee by every student in the affected schools. The matter has not received the blessing of most stakeholders within the tertiary institutions but the government appears hell-bent on going ahead and we found this development condemnable.
“It is time Gov. Makinde allowed the Governing Boards and Management of all tertiary institutions belonging to the Oyo state government to take full charge and run their schools in accordance with the rules and laws which established them. We understand that the N10,000 per student commission ceded to the company would end up in the pockets of the same individuals who have been feeding fat on the monthly allocations of the 33 LGAs since 2019 but we plead they should allow the Pacesetter State to breathe.
“For over five years now, no significant physical development has been recorded in any of the institutions which were put under the jackboot of a particular consultant as it was extremely difficult for the lawful handlers of those schools to carry out essential services such as training of staff, maintenance of infrastructure, clearing of bush, funding of researches among other things simply because they have been denied access to the funds generated locally as well as subventions. In the interest of the state, Gov. Makinde must desist from this act of stealing by trick.” APC said.
